


Iron Bends

by ej3467273



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Established Relationship, F/M, Father-Daughter Relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-05
Updated: 2017-08-05
Packaged: 2018-12-11 10:02:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11712111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ej3467273/pseuds/ej3467273
Summary: Stannis Baratheon finds out that Shireen has been dating Rickon Stark. After the initial shock, he observes their relationship through the years.A collection of one-shots, all from Stannis's perspective.





	Iron Bends

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FrozenSnares](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrozenSnares/gifts).



Stannis grinded his teeth. It was a common habit of his, even after his dentist had told him to  _ stop.  _ He grinded his teeth for many reasons. Robert’s stupidity, Renly’s jokes, his wife’s religion, and that weird red haired woman who kept insisting he was some sort of prince. By God, he was a naval commander, not a damn lord with a magic sword, meant to save the world from ice demons.

He tolerated a great many things. He suffered a great many things. What he didn’t like to do was tolerate and suffer at the same time, but fate compelled him to do so anything.  _ The things I do for duty. _

He had just gotten back from a six month deployment along the Summerset Sea, looking for pirates flying a stupid golden kraken, and had sunk a great many ships. The HMS  _ Fury  _ was a fine cruiser and he loved the feeling of the wind in his hair as the guns and missiles sunk the small but fast attack boats that the Greyjoy pirates enjoyed using.  _ One day I will destroy you and your head will bend beneath a sword Balon Greyjoy. _

However, beheadings had been outlawed for the past two hundred years.

He did not expect anybody to see him. His daughter was a teacher and most likely busy and his wife was holed up in their estate in Dragonstone with that damn priestess of hers. He was supposed to be alone. 

So imagine his surprise when he gets off the great ship, to be greeted by his daughter. His only daughter, the girl he had spent so much time to teach and protect, to heal and love. Shireen, the same girl who would rush him every time he returned, her scarred face looking at him with loving eyes.  _ I may have failed at a great many things, but Shireen is my crowning achievement. _

And attached to his daughter, his arm intertwined with hers, was a boy. A young man, to be fair, maddeningly tall. Stannis was tall himself, standing well above six feet, but this boy stood just as tall if not taller. Auburn hair and blue eyes, eyes that Stannis wanted to gouge for daring to take his daughter away.  _ It’s not even combed,  _ Stannis frowned,  _ Just a messy bunch of curls.  _ But worse...Shireen was smiling at the boy and laughing at something he said.

Stannis stood there and frowned at them all.

“Dad!” Shireen shrieked and she soon disentangled from her boyfriend (should he be putting a label on this already? Maybe she was just being friendly, a little too friendly, but friendly nonetheless) and he was soon engulfed in a tightening hug. He stood there, a little awkwardly, not used to this outburst of affection. He then returned the hug, his arms wrapping around his daughter.

“Shireen,” he greeted. “How are you?”

“Really great! I want to introduce you to someone.” she then waved her arm over and the lad who had been making his daughter smile bounded over, a slight spring in his step. He soon saw he was wearing a jacket with an airborne emblem.  _ Great. A former paratrooper.  _ “This is Rickon Stark, my...boyfriend.”

_ A Stark lad?  _ Stannis had always liked Ned Stark. An honorable man, a man who did his best to live by the rules and do his duty. He knew he had sons, but seeing his daughter with one of Stark’s sons made him a bit proud in her choice of boyfriends. Not that he approved. He would never approve.

Still, he thought that Snow lad would have been a good choice for his daughter, though  _ Lord Snow _ was in a committed relationship with some wild girl with honeycomb hair and a mean streak.

“Your boyfriend?” he managed to croak out. He then cleared his throat. “When did this happen?”

“Err...four weeks ago,” Rickon offered before he gave another answer. “No, five weeks ago. Four weeks ago was when we moved in together.”

_ "Moved in together?”  _ he cracked.

“Yeah, moved in together. You should see the place, really nice. One bedroom-”

“ _ One bedroom?” _

Stannis was about to choke this boy out, Stark or not. They have been dating for five weeks, have been living together for four, and it was a one bedroom place. In Stannis’s letters to Shireen, who he wrote to once a week, she had never mentioned this boy, nor that she was living with him.

“It’s not as bad as it sounds,” Shireen tried to defuse the tension, clearly sensing that Stannis was five seconds away from chucking this auburn haired lad into the water and sending her to a nunnery. “We’ve actually been living as roommates for the past six months. We just moved into another place a few weeks ago.”

Now that made Stannis grind his teeth  _ again.  _ She had been living in a three bedroom apartment with Myrcella, her cousin, along with this miscreant. But she had never mentioned him, never hinted at him, only that it was just some other roommate who was in and out all the time.  _ Makes a lot of noise,  _ she had once complained in a letter five months ago. Now Stannis wondered what kind of noise that was.

He decided not to dwell on it.

“You will explain everything to me tonight, do you understand?” he managed to grit out. “Do not bring this boy with you.”

“Dad-”

“ _ Alone, Shireen.” _

Shireen was a defiant girl, but even she knew never to challenge him when he was angry. He marched past them, his daughter left in a confused daze and Rickon scratching the back of his head. Ser Davos, his loyal aide, was beside the gate, waiting for him. He had seen the whole thing.

“Not a word Ser Davos. Not a word.”

Davos didn’t say anything, but Stannis swore he saw a laugh start to emerge from the Onion Knight’s throat.

_ "Linebreaks are necessary, even if they are tiresome." _

Stannis patiently awaited Shireen’s presence at his small house. Dragonstone was several hours away and he didn’t want to start driving there until he had heard from his daughter. He peered into his cup and drank the water, his eyes darting to the wine cellar his wife kept at all their properties. His book, the memoirs of the great naval commander, Corlys Velaryon, was open before him. A good book, thoughtful and introspective. Not vainglorious like Dareon Targareyn's  _The Conquest of Dorne._

_ The Master of High Tide.   _

He never drank, knowing the consequences of alcoholism. His damn brother was an alcoholic, a wife-beater, and a serial cheater. He vowed never to be like his brother. And Renly...well it was better not to speak of Renly. Though he liked him a great deal more than Robert and had a respect that his younger brother was willing to buck the family to live with his...good friend Loras and run a nightclub. 

His thoughts were preoccupied about sending a letter to Renly when the doorbell sang its sweet tune. The song,  _ Storm’s End  _ by the Red Priests echoed throughout the house. Every time he had someone over, he would explain that his wife was obsessed with the band and that she had installed the doorbell to do sing that song. 

He would never tell anybody that he was the one who had chosen the song and doorbell. Not even his daughter. 

He begrudgingly got up as Corlys Velaryon was describing his ill-fated adventure in the Stepstones and opened the door. Shireen was there, but in her hands was a leash, and attached to that leash was a massive black furred dog that was more wolf than dog. He gave her a look, the same look he gave one of his men when they were caught doing something they shouldn’t be doing.

“Rickon has work tonight and I can’t leave Shaggydog alone in the apartment. He’s not a house pet,” she explained. “He won’t tear up the house Dad, I promise. Can I come in? It’s cold outside.”

“Fine, but if this mongrel does one thing wrong, I’m going to drive him to the pound myself.”

She didn’t even flinch at the threat, which wasn’t a threat because Stannis would do it, and she walked in, the massive bag of fur right behind her, sniffing at him as it passed. He held out his hand automatically and the dog, this  _ Shaggydog,  _ rubbed its head against his fingers. Stannis found himself petting him. Not willing of course, but still, the soft fur is a stark (he should find another word) contrast to the iron that is Stannis Baratheon.

He had made a simple dinner, rice and salmon, along with a Caesar salad with ranch dressing. He liked ranch; it was simple and available. His daughter liked some sort of Essoi salad dressing, so he had gone out and bought one just for her. 

The dinner started out awkwardly of course. He was Stannis Baratheon, not Renly Baratheon, and he couldn’t hold a conversation if it wasn’t about war or politics. (No, he did not like the current Prime Minister. And no, he didn’t care that it was his brother. The queen was a step up from the last king. The  _ Fury  _ might be getting on years, but it was still the best damn ship in the fleet.)

“So Dad…” Shireen started, poking at her salad. “Are we going to talk or not? I know you’re not a great conversationalist, that’s more Uncle Renly’s department, but this getting into the super awkward zone.”

“How did you start dating that Stark boy?” he started out and Shireen almost rolled her eyes. If there was one thing he had never tolerated, though they were a great many things he didn’t tolerate, it was people rolling their eyes. His glare stopped that action.

“It just...happened,” Shireen lamely offered and Stannis started to grind his teeth once more. His dentist was going to hate him.

“ _ How  _ did it happen? You never mentioned it in your letters.”

“You never asked.”

“It never crossed my mind." 

“It should have.”

“Are we going to argue about  _ semantics?  _ You write about your roommates, your dreams, your aspirations, and how your job is proceeding. You could have written about the Stark boy."

Shireen huffed. “Can you stop calling him the Stark boy? He has a name. Rickon.”

“It does not matter what his name is. But as your father, I should be informed when you have a boyfriend and when you have moved in with him, especially considering that you were still writing about Myrcella just a few weeks ago.”

Shireen smirked. “I stopped writing about her four weeks ago. You never mentioned her again.”

Stannis grinded his teeth. “Loopholes. You and Ser Davos, always looking for loopholes. You should have become a lawyer, instead of an English teacher.”

“Thank you.”

“That wasn’t a compliment, Shireen. It was an insult. If there is something this world does not need, it’s lawyers and loopholes.”

“Says the man who always wants to follow the letter of the law.”

“Iron bends.”

Stannis was exhausted at that back and forth. His daughter was an excellent sparring partner in the game of wit and often would come up on top. He would be proud of that if he wasn’t mad at her. He decided to take charge of this conversation.

“Rickon. What does he do for a living?”

Shireen smiled brightly. “He’s a fry cook.”

“ _ What?”  _ and Shireen giggled, she dared to  _ giggle.  _ No daughter of his would giggle. He swore it. 

“Just pulling your strings. He’s a computer programmer,” and that surprised Stannis though he didn’t show it. “Former army, did his four years and got out. He’s smart, if not a little wild. He almost broke Facebook on accident.”

“Pray tell, how did this boy,” and Shireen glared at him. “ _ Rickon,”  _ he corrected himself, “almost break one of the largest and most important social media sites in the world?”

He did have a Facebook account. His wife, Ser Davos, and his daughter were his only friends on it. He had posted once, about how he hated cats. His daughter had promptly responded with an image of a grumpy looking cat and photoshopped his face on it. 

Suffice to say, he never used Facebook again.

Shireen launched into a story about how Rickon had been working for Facebook as an intern and he had played a prank on the web servers. He had input a small virus that screwed up something in the servers and almost ended up frying the entire website. He never worked for Facebook again.

“He freelances. A lot of people are hesitant to accept his help, but he charges low rates, works hard and does a good job,” she smiles as she poked at the fish. “He’s trying to become a white hat, so he’s learning more about hacking and stuff.”

He doesn’t want to admit it, but he’s starting to like this Rickon fellow. A little bit. He knows that if he gives an inch, Shireen will take a mile. 

But Rickon had a stable job, he made Shireen happy, and for some ungodly reason, Shireen liked him. He doesn’t know how to respond so he settled with a simple word.

“Good.”

That damned dog of hers, whose name was entirely uncreative, was sitting underneath him, and he found himself scratching the dog’s chin. It had been a long time since he had petted a dog. He liked dogs; they were loyal and didn’t convert to foreign religions. 

He decided to take a leap of faith. Shireen was an independent woman living her own life. Yes, she was twenty-six, which meant that Stannis had to stop being an overbearing father. Rickon Stark was younger, a few years younger, but the age difference did not bother him. And he was a Stark. The wrong Stark, but a Stark nonetheless. 

And he knew deep in his heart, no matter what happened, Shireen would simply continue to date Rickon, opposition from Stannis or not. 

“He’s a good guy Dad,” Shireen said during the glum silence. “Yeah, he’s got a reputation for wildness, but he treats me right and I like him.  _ A lot.”  _

Stannis decided on a course of action. “I will delay leaving to Dragonstone for another day. No doubt your mother is already celebrating that. You will bring the Stark-,  _ Rickon,  _ to lunch here. Robert,” Stannis grimaced, remembering that his brother was bringing his wife and children, which meant Joffrey, that prick,” will be here as well, along with Cersei, Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen.”

“You don’t like Uncle Robert, Aunt Cersei, or Joffrey though,” Shireen pointed out. Stannis grinded his teeth all the same.

“I hate a great many things Shireen, but I suffer them all the same.”

That brought another smile to Shireen’s lips. “You only want Rickon here so he can annoy Joffrey and Aunt Cersei, along with distracting Uncle Robert.”

Stannis let the ghost of a grin appear on his face. “You are my daughter.”

As Shireen groaned before launching into a story about her high school students being buggers, he petted Shaggydog once more. This Rickon boy didn’t sound bad. Not bad at all. 

**Author's Note:**

> I've been reading a lot of Rickon/Shireen fics and decided to add to it. I'm supposed to be working on several other things, but screw it, just add more pile to the rubble. A lot of those Rickon fics have been written by FrozenSnares, so that's why this is gifted to them.


End file.
